I wanted to write this post sooner, but it turns out I have been quite busy in January, so it’s only arriving now. I’ve read quite a few books last year, although I haven’t talked about it a lot on the blog. Before I entirely move on to 2023, I wanted to share four of the books I really enjoyed at the end of the year.
A Close and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
It’d been a while since I had been meaning to read A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, I finally did, and I loved it to pieces. So of course, I proceeded to read the sequel immediately. I absolutely love space opera, although I don’t read nearly enough of it. That way, it’s alwas a pleasure to come back to the genre. I loved the unique characters introduced in both books. And I’m not just saying that because those books are hella queer. They are all trying their best, and deserve the world. I really enjoyed how the stories took shape, and I’m really looking forward to reading Record of a Spaceborn Few.
One True King by Soman Chainani
I managed to read the entire School for Good and Evil series in 2022, and I’m really happy about that. It’s a series that had been on my radar for a while. I really like all things fairy-tale related so it was only a matter of time before I actually read those books. I loved the concept of a school heroes & villains attended before they could get their own tale. I loved how it tried to tackle prejudice when it comes to girls by making the daughter of the town witch a princess. I wasn’t necessarily a fan of the fact that Sophie, as a villain, was portrayed as extremely shallow, obsessed with her appearance, and fashion-oriented. Because just like it’s what’s inside that truly matters, it’s also okay and not evil at all to care about what you look like. Yes it’s important to look beyond it, but you are also allowed to look past that.
However through the last three books especially she shows great character growth, and that made up for the very cringy feeling I was getting in the beginning. She grew from one of my least favourite characters in the story to one I was really rooting for. These books also had great plot twists, and I’m delighted that I have one more book series to recommend to kids at work.
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
There are books that feel like a punch in the gut. This was definitely one of them, and it was absolutely brilliant. It’s a magnificent work that deals with racism and sexism in the US. It follows a teenage girl who turns to prostitution when she is abandoned by her entire family. She soon becomes entwined with a group of policemen and things get out of control. It’s not an easy book to read, but it’s a very important one, and the author mentioned in the afterword that this story was inspired by many stories she read in the news. She created her own character but the whole background surrounding Kiara is very much real.
Nightcrawling is also a very beautiful book about friendship and resilience, and I’m really glad that I gave it a try. This is definitely one of those books that’s going to stay with me for a while, and of course, I really recommend it.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
I always love a good historical fiction, especially if it has hints of feminism and mentions of the suffragettes, so obviously, this one was an amazing read for me. It takes place around the creation of the first Oxford Dictionary. We follow Esme, as she grows from a little girl who is fascinated with words, into a woman helping the shaping of the English language. Quickly, she also begins her own work when it comes to the words rejected by the dictionary, whether they are used exclusively by women, or simply reserved to the spoken language, and therefore have to written example of their use. It’s also in many ways a beautiful portrayal of the situation of women in the early 20th century. It’s a beautiful book, and it was an easy read that I would definitely recommend.
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And that’s it for today! Thank you so much for reading this far, I hope you have a wonderful day!
What’s the last book you read in 2022?
Clemi's Bookish World 